September 27, 2008

Victorious Transsexuals: Diane Shroer

You’ve probably heard about the severe pwnage achieved by counterterrorism expert Diane Shroer and her ACLU legal team. If this ruling stands, and God I hope it does, it’ll be a wonderful day for transsexuals who have now learned that, wow, they can get jobs now. And keep them. You know, our transsexual sons and daughters will get to grow up to be professionals, rather than be limited to prostitution and hairdressing.

GayCityNews – Trans Bias Claim Okayed
“No court would take seriously the notion that ‘converts’ are not covered by the statute,” [US District Judge James Robertson] wrote. “Discrimination ‘because of religion’ easily encompasses discrimination because of a change of religion. But in cases where the plaintiff has changed her sex, and faces discrimination because of the decision to stop presenting as a man and to start appearing as a woman, courts have traditionally carved such persons out of the statute by concluding that ‘transsexuality’ is unprotected… courts have allowed their focus on the label ‘transsexual’ to blind them to the statutory language itself.”

Anyway, this write-up from the AP is a great summary of the logic behind the ruling. A key component of the issue at hand is that the 1964 Civil Rights Act was not crafted with transsexuals in mind. Can you read the statutory language of a ruling to include people not thought of at the time? Well, you can, according to a line of reasoning increasingly used by the Supreme Court, and consistently advocated by one of its more right-wing members.

His name? Antonin Scalia.

PWN’d!

Anyway, I’m really happy to know that a federal court has acknowledged that when you discriminate against transsexuals, it’s sex discrimination. I hope y’alls, my cissexual brothers and sisters, can understand how much that feels like the clouds lifting and the sun coming out. I have a future, and it’s in large part thanks to a wise and forward-thinking ruling out of a US District Court.